Friday Links: Farewell, Walter De Maria

Last night, UbuWeb announced artist Walter De Maria’s passing over Twitter. The Los Angeles Times followed up with a pleasant write up on the “artist and sometime musician”, who might be best remembered for Lightning Fields. [UbuWeb, Los Angeles Times]

SVA will begin offering a Master’s in Curatorial Studies. [Art in America]

Walter Robinson wonders whether there’s a correlation between a surplus of artists and skyrocketing auction prices. His conclusion: professionalization and market interest means the art world’s become successful in the eyes of more than a handful of avant-garde types. It means we’ve become pretty “ordinary”. [Artspace]

Monya Rowe will be leaving Chelsea for a cozy, Lower East Side spot on 34 Orchard street. [Bedford + Bowery]

Culture Coin seeks to be the BitCoin for artists, and then some. We’re not sure exactly how this alternative currency will work; it seeks to “compensate artists for their sweat equity.” An okay idea, sure.[Shareable]

What do Lorna Mills, Glasspopcorn, Nick Briz, and Olia Lialina have in common? If you ask me, and most others, not much, other than dealing with art and “art” online. Jennifer Chan, in “Community Without Community: Net Art and its Micro-spheres”, her new article for West Space Journal, asks these four people about how community informs the type of work they make online. Unsurprisingly, none of them have much in common. [West Space Journal]

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts announces its 2013 grants to organizations. Here’s the full list. [Artforum]